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An abugida (from Ge'ez አቡጊዳ ''’äbugida''), also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent or optional. (In less formal contexts, all three types of script may be termed alphabets.) Abugidas include the extensive Brahmic family of scripts of South and Southeast Asia. ''Abugida'' as a term in linguistics was proposed by Peter T. Daniels in his 1990 typology of writing systems. ''’Abugida'' is an Ethiopian name for the Ge‘ez script, taken from four letters of that script, ''ä bu gi da'', in much the same way that ''abecedary'' is derived from Latin ''a be ce de'', and ''alphabet'' is derived from the names of the two first letters in the Greek alphabet, ''alpha'' and ''beta''. As Daniels used the word, an abugida is in contrast with a syllabary, where letters with shared consonants or vowels show no particular resemblance to one another, and also with an alphabet proper, where independent letters are used to denote both consonants and vowels. The term ''alphasyllabary'' was suggested for the Indic scripts in 1997 by William Bright, following South Asian linguistic usage, to convey the idea that "they share features of both alphabet and syllabary."〔He describes this term as "formal", i.e., more concerned with graphic arrangement of symbols, whereas ''abugida'' was "functional", putting the focus on sound–symbol correspondence. However, this is not a distinction made in the literature.〕〔William Bright (2000:65–66): "A Matter of Typology: Alphasyllabaries and Abugidas". In: ''Studies in the Linguistic Sciences''. Volume 30, Number 1, pages 63–71〕 Abugidas were long considered to be syllabaries, or intermediate between syllabaries and alphabets, and the term ''syllabics'' is retained in the name of Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. Other terms that have been used include ''neosyllabary'' (Février 1959), ''pseudo-alphabet'' (Householder 1959), ''semisyllabary'' (Diringer 1968; a word that has other uses) and ''syllabic alphabet'' (Coulmas 1996; this term is also a synonym for syllabary).〔 ==Description== In general, a letter of an abugida transcribes a consonant. Letters are written as a linear sequence, in most cases left to right. Vowels are written through modification of these consonantal letters, either by means of diacritics (which may or may not follow the direction of writing the letters), or by changes in the form of the letter itself. Vowels not preceded by a consonant may be represented with a zero consonant letter, modified to indicate the vowel, or separate letters for each vowel, that are distinct from the corresponding dependent vowel signs. Consonants not followed by a vowel may be represented with: *a modification that explicitly indicates the lack of a vowel (virama), *a lack of vowel marking (often with ambiguity between no vowel and a default inherent vowel), *vowel marking for a short or neutral vowel such as ''schwa'' (with ambiguity between no vowel and that short or neutral vowel), *conjunct consonant letters, where two or more letters are graphically joined in a ligature, or *dependent consonant signs, which may be smaller or differently placed versions of the full consonant letters, or may be distinct signs altogether. When a dependent consonant is written beneath the preceding consonant, as in Burmese or Khmer, the consonants are said to be "stacked". There are three principal families of abugidas, depending on whether vowels are indicated by modifying consonants by ''diacritics, distortion,'' or ''orientation.''〔John D. Berry (2002:19) ''Language Culture Type''〕 *The oldest and largest is the Brahmic family of India and Southeast Asia, in which vowels are marked with diacritics and syllable-final consonants, when they occur, are indicated with ligatures, diacritics, or with a special vowel-canceling mark. *In the Ethiopic family, vowels are marked by modifying the shapes of the consonants, and one of the vowel-forms serves additionally to indicate final consonants. *In the Cree family, vowels are marked by rotating or flipping the consonants, and final consonants are indicated with either special diacritics or superscript forms of the main initial consonants. Tāna of the Maldives has dependent vowels and a zero vowel sign, but no inherent vowel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Abugida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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